For the third year, we’ve pulled the data and crunched the numbers to come up with our Canadian Airport Affordability Index. This annual ranking, part of our ongoing efforts to help travellers get the best flights deals, offers a glimpse into how airfares vary by region and by year. The takeaway: airfares are fluid and can vary airport to airport. Be creative (and flexible) when planning your travel and be ready to jump on a deal when you see one.
The index is based on searches on our site for the month of August, 2013. We ranked the 20 most searched Canadian and US border airports, averaging airfares based on flight prices that our users found to the most popular destinations, including Montreal, Miami, Los Angeles, London, Bangkok and Cancun.
| Number | Airport | 2013 Ave. Airfare | 2012 Rank |
| 1 | Bellingham International, WA (BLI) | C$316 | 1 |
| 2 | Kelowna (YLW) | C$432 | 8 |
| 3 | Moncton (YQM) | C$436 | 4 |
| 4 | Victoria International (YYJ) | C$441 | 10 |
| 5 | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, MI (DTW) | C$448 | 2 |
| 6 | Buffalo Niagara International, NY (BUF) | C$494 | 3 |
| 7 | Winnipeg International (YWG) | C$509 | 11 |
| 8 | Macdonal-Cartier International (YOW) | C$513 | 13 |
| 9 | Regina (YQR) | C$520 | 7 |
| 10 | Quebec (YQB) | C$535 | 5 |
| 11 | Saskatoon (YXE) | C$536 | 6 |
| 12 | Edmonton International (YEG) | C$547 | 12 |
| 13 | Montréal – Pierre Elliot Trudeau (YUL) | C$554 | 16 |
| 14 | London (YXU) | C$562 | * |
| 15 | Calgary International (YYC) | C$580 | 15 |
| 16 | Fort McMurray (YMM) | C$601 | * |
| 17 | Lester B. Pearson International | C$603 | 20 |
| 18 | Halifax International | C$610 | 14 |
| 19 | Vancouver International | C$613 | 19 |
| 20 | St. John’s (YYT) | C$632 | 18 |
| *Did not rank in 2012 | |||
For more information:
To see how other U.S. airports stack up, check out the Airport Affordability Index from our sister site Cheapflights.com, which ranks the 101 most popular US airports by the average airfare to key destinations.
Featured image: Robert Couse-Baker
